High-flying Mainz seal third win of the season

Hoffenheim 0-2 Mainz
Goals: 0-1 Burkardt (21'), 0-2 Ingvartsen (77')

After an opening 15 minutes with half-chances at either end, Mainz came closest to opening the scoring when centre-back Jerry St. Juste powered a free-kick at goal from 20 yards, but Oliver Baumann was on-hand to parry the ball wide. Just minutes later and the 05ers took the lead with their next chance as Dominik Kohr pounced on a misplaced pass in midfield to send Burkardt in behind, and the Germany U21 captain provided the perfect finish on the turn with his left foot. Jacob Bruun Larsen teased Robin Zentner with a shot into the side-netting at the near post for Hoffenheim as the home side woke up having gone behind. Mainz's bright start was dampened by an injury to captain Moussa Niakhate just after the half-hour mark which forced him off. Bo Svensson's side kept the intensity up and forced several mistakes from the hosts in their build-up play, but couldn’t get a goal to double their lead before the half-time whistle came.

Mainz came flying straight out of the blocks in the second half as Leandro Barreiro stung the palms of Baumann with his left-footed strike from 20 yards out. Bruun Larsen and Sebastian Rudy responded with shots on goal of their own, but neither tested Zentner between the Mainz posts. Andrej Kramaric fired a free-kick wide of the mark from just outside the area with Hoffenheim beginning to create more chances going forward. However, as Hoffenheim looked to pile on more pressure - despite not forcing a single save from Zentner - substitutes came on and sealed the win for Mainz. Just a minute after entering the fray, Ingvartsen fired home with his first shot since signing for the club on loan from Union Berlin. That goal and the three points for Mainz keep them in the top four of the Bundesliga table for the week.

• Three of Burkardt's four Bundesliga goals so far in his career have come away from home.
• Ingvartsen scored with only his second touch of the ball for Mainz.
• Mainz have now collected more points through four games of this season (nine) than they managed in the entire first half of last season, through 17 games (seven).
• The 05ers have won three of their four league games so far, keeping three clean sheets in the process.
• Mainz have lost only one of 12 away Bundesliga matches under Svensson, who's unbeaten in seven games against TSG as a player and a coach (W6, D1).
• This was Hoffenheim's first defeat at home in six matches in the Bundesliga.

Hoffenheim: Baumann - Posch (Kaderabek 46'), Vogt (c), Richards, Raum - Rudy (Grillitsch 58'), Geiger (Dabbur 73') - Gacinovic (Baumgartner 46'), Kramaric, Bruun Larsen (Skov 73') - Rutter
Unused subs: Pentke, Stiller, Samassekou, Adamyan
Out: Akpoguma (not included), Bicakcic (knee), Hübner (back), Nordtveit (thigh)
Coach: Sebastian Hoeneß

Mainz: Zentner - St. Juste, Bell, Niakhate (c) (Hack 33') - Widmer, Barreiro (Lee 76'), Kohr, Lucoqui - Boetius (Stach 76') - Burkardt (Ingvartsen 76'), Onisiwo
Unused subs: Dahmen, Brosinski, Stöger, Tauer, Szalai
Out: Martin (groin)
Coach: Bo Svensson